Marking ribbon

ABSTRACT

A MULTI-COLORED MARKING RIBBON ACCORDING TO THE INVENTION IS MADE OF A LONG BAND OF ROT-PROOF FABRIC THE TWO FACES OF WHICH ARE PROVIDED WITH A WATERPROOF COATING HAVING A PREDETERMINED BACKGROUND COLOR AND WITH A PLURALITY OF OBLIQUE COLORED BANDS HAIVNG A COLOR WHICH STANDS OUT AGAINST THE COLOR OF THE BACKGROUND. THE COLORED BANDS ON ANY GIVEN FACE OF THE RIBBON EXTEND DIAGONALLY RELATIVE TO THE COLORED BANDS ON THE OTHER FACE OF THE RIBBON. FURTHERMORE, THE COLORED BANDS ON ONE FACE OF THE RIBBON ARE DISPLACED LONGITUDINALLY WITH RESPECT TO THE COLORED BANDS ON THE OTHER FACE OF THE RIBBON. THE RESULT IS A SORT OF FLICKERING EFFECT DUE TO THE FACT THAT THE COLORED BANDS APPEAR TO CARRY OUT A BACK AND FORTH ATTRACTING MOVEMENT UPON THE LEAST TREMOR.

Aug. 17, 1971 5 FERRAR| 3,600,211

MARKING RIBBON Filed Nov. 18, 1969 Figi INVENTUR SERGE 'FER'RHRI lV/GH Hrm.

nmmnsvs United States Patent i Im. C1. B44d 17092; co9k 1/04 U.S. Cl. 117-335 5 Claims ABSTRACT 0F THE DISCLOSURE A multi-colored marking ribbon according to the invention is made of a long band of rot-proof fabric the two faces of which are provided with a waterproof coating having a predetermined background color and with a plurality of oblique colored bands having a color which stands out against the color of the background. The colored bands on any given face of the ribbon extend diagonally relative to the colored bands on the other face of the ribbon. Furthermore, the colored bands on one face of the ribbon are displaced longitudinally with respect to the colored bands on the other face of the ribbon. The result is a sort of liickering effect due to the fact that the colored bands appear to carry out a back and forth attracting movement upon the least tremor.

This invention is concerned with a multi-colored marking ribbon which is intended to bring certain places to the attention of the public, such as public works and construction sites, machines in exhibition halls, airelds and the like. This application is a continuation-in-part of my earlier application, Ser. No. 571,331, Aug. 9, 1966, now abandoned.

The object of the invention is to design this type of ribbon so that it will attract particular attention while being very easy to manufacture.

To this end, the multi-colored ribbon which is employed in accordance with the invention for attracting atention comprises a longitudinal band of rot-proof fabric formed in a single thickness, said band of fabric having a rst face on one side and a second face on the other side, the two faces of said ribbon being each provided with a waterproof coating having a predetermined background color, said first face being provided lwith a plurality of colored bands disposed parallel to each other and having a color which stands out against the color of the background whilst the second face has a plurality of colored bands disposed parallel to each other and having a color which stands out against the color of said background, said colored bands of the rlirst and second face being adapted to extend obliquely with respect to the longitudinal direction of the 'band of fabric, and the colored bands disposed on the first face are adapted to extend diagonally relative to the colored bands disposed on the second face and they are displaced longitudinally relative to said colored bands disposed on the second face, all said colored bands being formed by a light-reflecting material applied on said fabric.

The effect produced by this particular design is such that, when a ribbon of the type just described is stretched freely between two fixed points, the least tremor or current of air causes the ribbon to vibrate, with the result that sometimes one face and sometimes the other face becomes visible and that a fiiickering effect is produced since the colored lbands of one face do not coincide with the colored bands of the other face. In other words, when the ribbon becomes twisted, the colored oblique bands appear to carry out in the longitudinal direction of the lice ribbon a back-and-forth movement which attracts attention.

In some designs, the colored bands of at least one face of the ribbon are luminescent. Moreover, the background color of at least one of the two faces of the ribbon can be phosphorescent.

A better understanding of the invention will be gained from the following description and from the accompanying drawings in which one embodiment of a ribbon in accordance with the invention is illustrated by way of example, and in which:

FIGS. 1 and 2 show respectively the two faces of a fragment of marking ribbon in accordance with the invention, and

FIG. 3 is a partial longitudinal sectional view of the same ribbon on a larger scale.

The fragment of marking ribbon lwhich is illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 3 is made of a band of rot-proof fabric formed of a single thickness 1 which is provided with patterns on both faces. Said band of fabric can be formed, for example, of polyamide 66, the warp threads and weft threads of which are each 210 deniers, for example. The fabric is coated on each of its two faces with a waterproof layer 2 which may be formed of a material such as plasticized polyvinyl chloride and may be either white or any desired color. If necessary, said coating can be phosphorescent by virtue of the fact that it contains mineral pigments which are capable of absorbing light during the day and of restoring light during the night.

A first face 3 of the ribbon has a plurality of colored bands 4 disposed parallel to each other, the color of said bands being such as to stand out against the color of the background and being of an orange shade, for example. The second face 5 of the ribbon also has a plurality of colored bands 6 disposed in parallel relation and having a color which may also 'be an orange shade and stands out against the background color. Said colored bands of the lirst face of the ribbon as well as the colored bands of the second face of this latter extend obliquely with respect to the longitudinal direction of the band of fabric. Moreover, the colored bands of the first face extend diagonally with respect to the colored bands of the second face and are displaced with respect to these latter in the direction of the length of the ribbon. In other words, if each colored band of the first face forms a parallelogram designated as ABCD by virtue of the design hereinabove described and each colored band of the second face forms a parallelogram EFGH, it is noted that the parallelogram ABCD extends toward the right-hand side on FIG. l in the direction of the length of the ribbon beyond the location of the parallelogram EFGH by a quantity represented by the small triangle GCH and that likewise the parallelogram EFGH extends towards the left-hand side in the direction of the length of the ribbon beyond the location of the parallelogram ABCD by a quantity represented by the small triangle EFB. The value of this positional displacement is given solely by way of example and could be either greater or, on the contrary, smaller.

The colored bands are formed by applying to the fabric a light-reflecting material such as an ink or a paint containing aluminum powder, for example, or alternatively either a luminescent ink or paint containing fluorescent pigments. The colored band can be the same on both faces of the ribbon and may all be simply reflecting bands or may all be fluorescent bands. They can also be of different types. Thus, the colored bands can be simply reflecting on one face of the ribbon and be uorescent on the other face.

When a ribbon of this type is exposed to an air current or even to a very light wind and is preferably given the form of a helix having a very great pitch, said ribbon has a tendency to twist periodically to a greater or a lesser extent, with the result that an observer to whom either the rst face or the second face becomes visible at intervals gains the impression that the parallelograms 4 move along the ribbon so as to take up the positions of the parallelograms 6, depending on whether the observer sees either the first or the second parallelogram. A ribbon of this type therefore attracts considerable attention.

It will be understood that the invention is not limited to the embodiments herein described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings and that a large number of modifications can be made according to the applications which may be contemplated without thereby departing either from the scope or the spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A multi-colored ribbon employed for attracting attention and comprising a longitudinal band of rot-proof fabric formed of a single thickness, wherein said band of fabirc has a rst face on one side and a second face on the other side, the two faces of said ribbon being each provided with a waterproof coating having a predetermined background color, said first face being provided with a plurality of colored bands disposed parallel to each other and having a color which stands out against the color of the background whilst the second face has a plurality of colored bands disposed parallel to each other and having a color which stand out against the color of said background, said colored bands of the first and second face being adapted to extend obliquely with respect to the longitudinal direction of the band of fabric, said colored bands on said first face extending diagonally relative to said colored bands on said second face, and said colored bands on said first face being displaced longitudinally relative to said colored bands on said second face, all said colored bands being formed by a light-reflecting ma terial applied on said fabric.

2. A marking ribbon according to claim 1, wherein the colored bands on one of the faces of the ribbon are luminescent.

3. A marking ribbon according to claim 1, wherein the colored bands on both faces of the ribbon are luminescent.

4. A marking band according to claim 1, wherein the coating which covers both faces of the ribbon contains phosphorescent material.

5. A marking ribbon according to claim 1, wherein the coating which covers both faces of the ribbon has a white color.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,772,994 12/1956 Lacy 57-150X 2,360,516 10/1944 Schmidling 117-335 2,262,492 11/1941 Farrell 117-45X 1,813,491 7/1931 Gillard 117-33.5

ROBERT F. BURNETT, Primary Examiner M. A. LITMAN, Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. XR. 

